A distributed antenna system (“DAS”) may include master units and remote antenna units. Master units may be connected to base stations. Master units receive downlink signals from base station and distribute downlink signals in analog or digital format to multiple remote antenna units. The remote antenna units transmit downlink signals to mobile communication devices within coverage areas serviced by the remote antenna units. In the uplink direction, signals from mobile communication devices may be received by the remote antenna units. The remote antenna units may combine uplink signals and transmit the combined uplink signals to master units. Master units may transmit uplink signals to the serving base stations.
Signals from many base stations may be communicated via the DAS. The downlink signals may originate from different operators. The downlink signals may be transmitted using different frequency bands and/or different sub-bands within a frequency band. The downlink signals may be combined into various sets for transmission by the remote antenna units. Combining downlink signals may be performed in a manner to accommodate the practical limitations of the various hardware modules and provide the coverage intended by an operator using the DAS. For example, signals in different sub-bands of the same band may be combined together for transmission by a common transmitter.
Configuration of the DAS may involve manually defining which downlink signals are routed to which remote antenna units and defining how downlink signals are combined for retransmission. Signal parameters of the base stations signals may be manually entered for the DAS. Increasing the number of base stations in communication with the DAS or the number of remote antenna units in the DAS may increase the amount of time required for manually configuring the DAS.